Wednesday, 22 April 2015

April Glossybox Review: Lord + Berry, Pop Beauty & More

Where has the last month gone? The April Glossybox has just landed, and it only feels like five minutes since I received the last one – I love a month like that!

This month’s box is The Iconic Edit. Its all about classic looks, enduring icons, and products that will never go out of style.
The box itself was very pretty this month, coming emblazoned with a line drawing of a 50s style screen goddess – a look we’d all like to emulate.

There were three pastel colour ways for the boxes, I’m not sure if they corresponded to different contents or not, but I received the coral one. With this rather fabulous quote inside:

So, what was inside the box this month? Could it top last month?

Lord & Berry Lipstick Pencil in ‘Kiss’

£10

Selfridges.com

This was the ‘preview’ item we knew was coming, so I was looking forward to trying it out. Lord & Berry are a brand I have tried only once, many moons ago.

I remember buying (and loving) some kind of chunky eyeliner crayon from them, only to then get really annoyed because it was an unusual flattened oval shape and would not fit any of of my sharpeners, so as soon as it went blunt it had to be thrown away!

I see that for these lip pencils they’ve reverted to a more user-friendly standard round shape. They describe this shade as a ‘classic pillar box red’, which I was hoping for, but I disagree – I think this is more of a ‘brick red’, it definitely has terracotta, orangey tones to it.

The pencil has a matte finish and I feel it looks quite similar to the lipstick crayons Maybelline are doing.

I was hoping for more of a match with the Nars Satin Lip Crayon, which is incredible, but this isn’t as creamy and satiny as that. I really like the colour on, but the formula is not as moisturising as I’d
hoped and I feel like some balm is an essential with this.

The crayon format I like, especially with a bold colour, because its so much easier to get the outline nice and crisp. It’s a decent enough product, but for the price I’d be far more tempted to go with the similar Maybelline offering or man up and shell out for Nars’ far superior crayon.

Astral Original Face & Body Moisturiser

£3.89 for 200ml

boots.com

This is very in-keeping with the classics theme of the box. With skincare, I think people fall into a few distinct camps.

One of those camps is the type that love traditional/retro products, the type their mother or granny used to use “and she never had any wrinkles!”.

Sadly, I’m not one of those people. I think skincare is a technology that moves on and improves all the time. I want the latest formulations and ten different hard to pronounce scientific complexes.
I want hyaluronic acid, 3d wrinkle filling spheres, glow boosting agents, seven different vitamins and a high factor SPF. So Astral is not for me – its far too basic.

A moisturiser that only moisturises and nothing else? Pssht, someone call the stone age and give them their face cream back! Perhaps this will be so amazing that won’t matter. Perhaps it will win be over at first use. But I highly doubt it.

Its’ quite a heavy cream, where as I prefer a lighter feeling lotion. It’s what they used to call a ‘cold cream’ where it can remove your make-up as well – I believe women used to smother their faces in it at night, then tissue off the excess.

I’m not a fan of the ugly blue plastic packaging either, so I can’t see this being something that becomes a part of my routine regularly.

POP Beauty Kajal Eyeliner Pen

£6.50

popbeauty.co.uk

I used to be mad about Pop Beauty quite a few years ago, but I haven’t thought about them for quite a while, so receiving this in the box made me smile.

You can’t really ever go wrong with a black kohl pencil, and I especially like that this one has a handy smudger brush attached. That’s perfect for the smokey eye look, which is a classic in itself.

This is creamy, smooth and blendable. It can’t quite top the Urban Decay 24/7 Glide-Ons for me, or even the very similar Rimmel Scandaleyes pencils. But it’s a pretty solid effort and a make-up bag
essential, so was a great item to receive.

Colour Club Nail Laquer in ‘Barely There’

£4.10

www.colorclub.com

What is it with beauty subscription boxes and Colour Club? I’ve literally had three or four polishes from this brand in my boxes, and frankly I wish they’d cool it because its getting a bit boring.

On the plus side, I like this colour a lot. It’s a pretty cream-pink shade, perfect for summer and the ultimate neutral.

And the polishes I’ve had before from Colour Club have been pretty nice formulations, so there
are definitely worse things to receive, its just getting a little repetitive now!

Nougat London Tuberose and Jasmine Soothing Bath Pearls

£6.00

www.nougatlondon.co.uk

These were a nice surprise, and as a lover of long, scented soaks, especially at the moment with pregnancy aches and pains to contend with, they were very welcome.

They smell delicious and the cute little pouch also makes them ideal for another purpose while they’re waiting to be used – or even if you don’t like baths. They can be popped into your underwear draw or a travelling bag to keep clothes smelling divine. Very nice indeed!

The Verdict

While this box is still good, it hasn’t been as strong an offering as previous boxes, and some of the products are a little bit of a miss for me.

The Lord and Berry Lip Crayon is not as good quality as I
would hope for, and the Astral is boring and basic – not to my taste at all. Plus, the endless Colour Club needs to stop!

So a little bit underwhelming this month, but still nice stuff and I’m already looking forward to next month!

4 comments

I love lord and berry so much and that shade is perfect for spring I think, I also loved the box decoration and quote but not sure the products were revolutionary although that being said I miss subscribing xxx